BOOK CLUBS.

Love of literature is the theme in Lake Forest

June 13, 2004|By Fern Schumer Chapman. Fern Schumer Chapman is the author of "Motherland--Beyond the Holocaust: A Daughter's Journey to Reclaim the Past."

The Lake Forest Bibliophiles is a book club as classically inclined as its name.

The group that Susan Boucher, owner of the local independent Lake Forest Book Store, calls "the most literary in the area" each year chooses a theme within which to explore an eclectic collection of works.

Occasionally the members have been prescient in their selection of themes. "And That Changed Everything" was 2001's theme, chosen long before Sept. 11; the concept embraced such works as Thornton Wilder's "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" and "When We Were Orphans," by Kazuo Ishiguro. For this year's theme, "Casualties of War," the group has read works including Andrew Carroll's "War Letters," David Lipsky's "Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point," and "The Good War: An Oral History of World War II," the highly praised work of Chicago author Studs Terkel.

In their conceptual approach and wide-ranging tastes, the Bibliophiles are carrying on the time-honored tradition of the women who organized 19th Century book clubs: using the group's readings and discussions to educate themselves about weighty, worldly matters. Book clubs in those days gave women, whose formal schooling might be scanty, a way to compensate, says Elizabeth Long, associate professor of sociology at Rice University in Houston and author of "Book Clubs and the Uses of Reading in Every Day Life" (University of Chicago Press).

Adding diligently to the benefits of reading and discussing the books, 19th Century book-club members "did reports so they would learn public speaking," Long says. "They ran the meetings according to a constitution so they would learn the skills of citizenship."

For today's book clubs, she says, "the purpose is more existential, but it serves the same notion--that education can be a lifelong pursuit."

Indeed, the members of the Bibliophiles say they never leave the meetings without expand-ing their understanding of the world.

"The group pushes me to read books I would never pick up," Alison Ives adds. "I always learn something new here."

Members take turns leading the discussion, and each puts in plenty of time to prepare for her evening. "The amount of research can be staggering," says leader and organizer Lane. "We prepare as if it were a college-level class, with maps, graphs, medical descriptions and history. Often, we contact the author."

For a recent presentation on "The Good War," leader Ives listened to the original interviews for the book, which are available through the Chicago Historical Society's Web site. While listening, Ives says, she was struck by the differences in how history is portrayed between letters written in the moment and oral histories given later.

"War letters are a first-person account of what soldiers saw," she says. "But an oral history is more interpretive since the experience is colored by memory. It gives someone a chance to editorialize about the experience. The letters are here and now. Oral histories are a reflection."

"Wouldn't it be fascinating," Wendy Watkins adds, "to go back and interview some of those who wrote war letters and learn how they would tell their story as an oral history?"

"The Good War" leads to a broad discussion about the impact of the GI Bill and its introduction of the sense of entitlement that some members believe characterizes the generation that fought the war.

"These are the same people now pushing for AARP to get them more medical benefits," Baehr says. Others note how readily the roots of today's middle class and the women's movement can be found in World War II and its after-math.

The evening's most animated conversation by far comes when the discussion turns to the need to understand men and war.

"Maybe I don't get it because I'm a woman," Lane says, "but the soldiers said being in the war was the happiest time of their lives. There was an absence of competition among men, and a sense of camaraderie. It wasn't really about the country or the cause. They simply couldn't let their buddies die."

Watkins adds a personal reminiscence that supports Lane's insight.

"There is something uniquely bonding for men about the war experience," she says. "My father went to every reunion for his unit. It was like a team sport."

Others recalled dads who were silent about their wartime lives.

"My father never talked about the war," Margie Juedes says. "He didn't talk to us, but he did talk to our kids. He wanted to safeguard the story for the next generation."

Ives suggests that Lake Forest High School students visit the historical society's Web site, where they can learn how to do oral history and thus record the stories of Lake Forest's war veterans.